Feed-water heater



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTRNEYS WITNESS May 12,1925.

May 12, 1925. 1,537,055

' E. A. AVERILL FEED wATnR HEATER Filed Nov. 4. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 wn'Nzss. -f .INVENTOR l ATTORNEYS Patented May l2, 1925. i

lUNITED fsTATE's PATENT carica.`

EARL A. AVERILL, o E MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK, AssIGNoR To LocoMoTrvE FEED' WATER HEATER coMPANY, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

FEED-WATER HEATER.

Application led November '-citizen lof the United States, residing at Mount Vernon, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed- Water Heaters, of which the following is a specication.

This' invention relates to feed water heaters for locomotives and the like and has for one of its primary objects the provision of an improved multi-pass heater in which the passes for the water tdb'e heated are so arranged that the colder passes are at the bottom and the hotter passes at the top, an arrangement which, for reasons hereinafter pointed out, greatly increases the eliiciency of the heater. 4

Another of the objects of the invention resides in the provision of an improved heater in which the steam distribution is more uniform so that temperature conditions and, therefore, expansion will be more uniform in the various parts.

M invention alsoy contemplates certain detall improvements and combination of parts in the heater arrangement, hereinafter more fully to be pointed out.

In general, I propose an improved heater of simple construction -and eflicient in operation, the parts of which may be readily assembled and taken a art.

The foregoing, objects as may e by means of a construction illustrated in preferred form in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section on the line 1-1 of Figures 3 and 4 through a heater embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 is an toget er with such otherV reinafter appear, I obtain 4, 1920. serial No. 421,642. l

bered 1, 2, 3 and 4 (see Fig. 3) the stationary tube plate 12 secured to one end of the caslng 7; the floating tube plate 13; and the headers 14 and l5. The headers are secured' plied before the parts arey assembled they i can be threaded liner and better secured to the tube plate. This arrangement makes it more feasible to obtain a steam-tight or leak-proof connection which extends tlie life of certain of the parts which would other` wise be more rapidly worn out. Suitable gaskets 19 are provided between the headers and the tube lates. It will be understood that the hea ers are provided with septa dividing them into the proper number ofcompartments to secure the. desired number of passes. The header 14 is provided with an inlet 20 to pass 1 and with an outlet 21 "from pass 4. The casing end cap 10 is secured against the tube sheet 12 over the header 14 by means of stud bolts 16'* in the outer side of the header 14,'and is thus read- 1l removable to give access to the outer ends o?, the bolts 17 extending through the header from the tube plate 12.

A balile plate 22 secured to the tube plates 12 and 13 above the tubes extends from header structure to header structure in the line of the incoming steam admitted from end elevation of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectioh- Opposite ends of the casing through the taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referrin now to the drawings, it will be seen that tle device includes an open-ended cylindrical casing 7, rovided with two oppositely arranged in ets 8 at the top for connection with the exhaust passages in the isaddle casting or with the steam chest exhaust ports, and with a drain 9 at the bottom. The ends of the casing 7 are closed by the tube plate 12 at one end and the casing cap 11 at the other end. The heating elements consist of the tubes A, preferably arranged in four passes respectively numsuperjacent inlets 8 in'ord'er to prevent such steam from directly impinging .upon the upper tubes.` Two guard plates 23 are sev cured to the' tube plates at a point below the lowermost tubes and serve tov protect the latter when the heating elements are slid into or out of the casing.

It will be seen from the foregoing that in operation water is introduced through the inlet 2() and traverses thel tubes of pass 1 to header 15, from which it returns to header 14 through the tubes of pass 2, after which it passes upwardly in the header 14 to the tubes of pass 3, returning to such header through the tubes of pass 4, after which it is discharged through the outlet 2l to the boiler. It Will thus be seen that the coldest Water is in the bottom of the heater which is an advantage of great importance for the 'reason that a very large percentage ot the steam is condensed by the colder tubes of the first two passes, and if these be located at the top, as is customary, the condensation drips on to the lower tubes cutting down their eieiency. By the improved arrangement, however, by far theigreater part of the condensate is formed on the lower tvvoV passes and the upper passes containing the hotter Water will have maximum eicieney. The baille 22 also secures a more even distribution of the incoming steam throughout the heater which also tends to promote efficiency and to maintain more uniform temperature and, therefore, more uniform expansion conditions.

It will also be seen that the heat transfer member formed by the tubes A, tube plate and header structures l2, 14 and 13, l5 and the associated parts constitutes a coin-V plete water circulation unit, and is readily removable as a structural unit as soon as its water inlet and outlet connections are disconnected and its securing bolts 1G released. It will be seen that the tube plate and header structures of this Water circulation unit are connected and spaced apart, independently of any of the tubesA extending between them, by the longitudinal members 22 and 23. These members 22 and 23 are freely exposed to the steam in the casing 7, and leave the tubes A freely exposed.

I claim:

l. In a feed water heater, the combination of a heater casing, anda heat transfer member removable as a unit and comprising a pair 'of tube plates and a plurality of tubes secured in said plates, means for detachabl securing the said member to the casing, an

guard means extending longitudinally of and beneath the tubes for protecting the same upon insertion and removal of said member from the Casing.

2. In a feed v ater heater, the combination of a casing, a pair of tub-e plates, a plurality of tubes, a header for each tube plate, a socket threaded in each tube plate, and bolt-like means fory securing the headers to the respective tube plates threaded in said sockets.

3. A feed Water heater compliising an open-ended easing; and a removable water circulation unit therefor including tube plate and header structures, water tubes ex tending between said structures, and longitudinal guard means for protecting the tubes during removal or insertion of the unit from or in the easing rigidly secured to said structures beneath the loWermost tubes.

In testimony whereof, I havehereunto signed 'my name.

EARL A. AVERILIJ. 

